Antonio Garcia
Professor Garcia
English 5A
25 October 2023
Gen Z, Video Games, and Mental Health
During the pandemic, I would play eight hours of Fortnite a day. This quarantine took a significant toll on the American youth, pressuring these adolescents to adapt to a new virtual world. Although some people might argue that turning to gaming harms young adults, it is also essential to understand that gaming provides another way to cope with having their lives changed overnight. In recent years many adolescents have turned to gaming to escape from the reality of the world. For many American youth, games have benefited their mental health yet there is a significant amount that gaming has made them more violent. It is essential to realize that gaming benefits the mental health of the youth and provides a healthy coping mechanism for daily struggles, on the contrary, it is essential to find an equilibrium between daily life and gaming.
I used Fortnite to escape the hardship of changing my life when the pandemic arose, many adolescents use it to escape reality. The article “How Animal Crossing Will Save Gen Z'' states that “Your character, a human villager, performs basic, everyday functions. You fish. You catch bugs. You grow a tree. Common themes are relaxation and simplicity”(Udaygiri 3). We conclude that because Animal Crossing is based on living a simpler life, many teens used it to create a false reality that helped them cope with the difficulties and confinement of the COVID-19 virus. The same article includes “ The characters in the game don’t have to worry about school shootings, arbitrary college admissions or the rapidly deteriorating environment. They simply… live”(Udaygiri 3). Additionally, gaming provides a safe environment where teens can feel safe from the dangers that come with going to school. Gaming helps the youth create a world that is close to being perfect and experience life in that way, which real life cannot provide for them. Another way that gaming has a positive health impact on the youth is friendships online. According to “Gaming Well: links between videogames and flourishing mental health” gamers can improve real-life relationships as well as, allow gamers to make new friendships it states “WoW players report creating social capital through online gameplay with players using the game to extend real-life relationships, meet new people and form relationships of varying strengths” ( Jones, Scholes, Johnson, Katsikitis, Carras, 4). This means that as gamers plan online they create friendships that through the game can create a strong connection. This in turn will allow a gamer to feel like they belong to a group leading to healthy mental health. The same article states “Connecting with millions of video game players across the world, against a common in-game attack, is bigger than any one player and this has been associated with deriving meaning and subsequently well-being” (Jones, Scholes, Johnson, Katsikitis, Carras, 5). Similar to the point I made before, we can get an example of how gamers feel when playing games. It also shows how gaming can provide a feeling that the real world can not and that is to be able to save the world or have full power and control of the world's safety. The simplicity of videogames provides a virtual escape for gamers allowing them to participate in games such as Halo that can also construct friendship bonds.
On the contrary, some people think that gaming can create an addictive environment causing gamers to disconnect from the real world. Studies from the article “Gaming, Mental Health, and Depression” state that
“Often, when we first get into an exciting new game or are working hard to unlock a rare achievement, we can overdo things and play long into the night, disrupting our normal sleep cycles. This is unhealthy for many reasons and can be particularly bad for our mental health, with sleep disturbances being a very common symptom of depression, as well as being a significant risk factor for depression” (Stasuik 15).
With this, we conclude that sleep is an important factor in having a healthy mental health. Not paying attention to these important factors can create barriers to healthy mental health. Although gaming is seen as an escape from reality the article “Video Games and Mental Health: How Gaming Affects Your Mental Health” provides another perspective saying that “Video games can allow you to jump into another world where you forget about everything that’s bothering you…Your anxiety will eventually become even worse knowing that you haven’t managed to address those nagging issues you might have in your life” (Adair 24). Gaming does allow a gamer to suppress a gamer's emotions temporarily but in the article, we see that gaming does not solve real-life problems. It only allows gamers to temporarily get rid of problems but off the game, gamers are left with the same problems sometimes worse. Gaming can become a barrier to better sleep and an unhealthy way of dealing with real-life problems temporarily.
It is important to note both sides of the argument that gaming can lead to overall a significantly better mental state. On one end we can see how gaming can create an escape for gamers from the difficulties that come with daily tasks. It can also allow gamers to produce healthy relationships online that can in turn be better friendships than in-person friendships. Gaming also provides a sense of purpose for these gamers, playing games that involve a group of people in saving the world can make these gamers feel a part of something. On the other hand, too much gaming can get in the way of daily functions such as sleep. The motivation some gamers have to beat that final boss or reach just one extra level can impose a sleep barrier that can lead to depression. Finally, gaming is only a temporary fix to daily problems that gamers face, it is not healthy for gamers to suppress these feelings by playing long hours with no sleep. Gaming can allow a gamer to decompress but it is important to find the balance between real life and virtual life. You can do this by setting small increments of gaming in your life and only playing for that amount of time. This will allow a gamer to find a balance between gaming and real life.
Works Cited
Adair, Cam. “Video Games and Mental Health: How Gaming Affects Your Mental Health.” Game Quitters, 18 Sept. 2022, gamequitters.com/how-gaming-affects-your-mental-health/#:~:text=Studies%20show%20that%20people%20diagnosed,%2C%20fear%2C%20or%20other%20emotions. Accessed 12 Nov. 2023.
Jones, Christian, et al. “Gaming Well: Links between Videogames and Flourishing Mental Health.” Gaming Well: Links between Videogames and Flourishing Mental Health, Frontiers, 10 Mar. 2014, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00260/full.
Stasuik, Colin. “Gaming, Mental Health, and Depression: What You Need to Know.” GAMING, MENTAL HEALTH, AND DEPRESSION, HeadsUpGuys, 17 July 2023, headsupguys.org/video-gaming-mental-health-and-depression/.
Udaygiri, Ananya. “How Animal Crossing Will Save Gen Z.” The New York Times, 17 June 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/learning/how-animal-crossing-will-save-gen-z.html.